Between You And Me – Flight To Societal Moksha by Atul
Khanna
Among the
many books on society and politics that I have read and reviewed – the current
one under review, “Between You And Me –
Flight To Societal Moksha by Atul
Khanna” is easily the hardest to classify, and even harder to rate. In
fact, for some days after reading it, I could find no words to even pen a
review, as I myself was not clear whether to praise it, or not to praise it!
And yet, several days later, I still cannot shake off the contents of the book,
that somehow, somewhere touched a deep chord, and a deep seated desire…
THE
BOOK
I would
rather not say a single word, and move onto Analysis and Review section of this
article – this is a book that should be a discovery, something to be taken up
with no idea of its contents and zero expectations; however, given that readers
prefer some context, I hereby present a ridiculously short summary of the
central concept of this tome. I sincerely advise the reader of this review to
not read this next paragraph or two that
I have written!
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| Image Credit: Google Search |
This book
is a dream, and a fervent desire – of how can we rid India of all its problems
in Governance, Economics and Development, taking a systemic view, looking at
key things and areas where we went wrong. It does not do a postmortem; it goes
off on a unique tangent, into solution mode, with suggestions as to how can we
Indians change things. It gives frankly deep solutions, and even goes to the
extent of suggesting constitutional changes with an objective of making all our
dreams a reality…
It is
divided into 6 parts: Ancient India, Modern India / Personality Driven
Subcontinent, Structures we need {9 prayers or wants like empowerment, financial
protection, bureaucracy, limitations of powers etc}, Governance Models {lokpal,
corruption, adult franchise etc}, New
Economic Story {Banks, Economy, Business, Income Tax etc}, Taking Charge {Healthcare,
Education, Science etc}, India
Song {20 million jobs, growth, income goals, economic analysis etc}…
THE
ANALYSIS
The
paragraph above must have given a rough idea of the immense canvas the book
attempts to cover; as can be seen – its scope is vast, and truly extensive. Full marks to the Author
for bringing it all together to provide an analytical framework for any future
developmental national plan. This is what I loved the most about the book – it provides
a framework of sorts that other thinkers can build upon, improve, add to and
arrive at a more definitive framework.
This book
is a first of its kind attempt to look at a wide lens national look; the only
other in my reading was Swaraj written by Arvind Kejriwal, reviewed on my blog
in these two links: Link 1 - Swaraj By Arvind Kejriwal &Swaraj Review Part 2. I will not attempt to either praise or
criticize the suggestions; that would be a petty endeavour, and reduce the
import of this excellent effort. I may like some suggestions, may not like
others- what is more
important is that someone has attemped such a wide canvas look at our problems
and has gone to the extent of thinking of how can we solve these issues?
We are
aware of the problems to some extent, some of us to a greater degree of
awareness perhaps- bureaucracy and its issues, corruption, political class,
caste and religion based issues, economic issues, corporate cronyism &
inefficiency {of which I have also written a lot on my blog}, and so on and so forth.
But the wide-lens look bringing all in one tome helps us connect the dots, and spot
the interlinkages, enabling us to see the entire picture, as opposed piecemeal
looks at each sub-point in detail {this we have seen in these books: Thin Dividing Line, Reimagining India, Priorities For The Future by Bimal Jalan, Navigating India, Saving Capitalism from the Capitalists and many others featured on my blog...}. Both –
the detailed look as well the the eagle-eye view are vital. The birds-eye view
is another strong take-away from this book.
As to the
solutions – I said earlier, you may like some solutions, and you may not like
some others. That is completely beside the point. Some suggestions will seem
impractical, others may surprise you – but in both cases they will
kindle your thoughts – and remember this is virgin territory we are on, and
thus lack a yardstick for a true judgmental comparison. And given this fact- that this is virgin territory, we must
perforce curtail any judgmental look at the contents of the book, and rather withhold
judgment , waiting and hoping that more such efforts come to the fore of Indian
writing, and will kindle a public discussion on the solutions. For we are a Democracy, and it is the majority will that
counts.
There are
many suggestions that will kindle
thought, incredulity, respect, yes- even
derision, but in doing so, one misses the fundamental issue – someone is thinking
of these, a way out…, and in a democracy, open discussion - calm legally
admissible - always leads to positive benefits. The Transferable vote
suggestions, or be it the limitations of powers, merging of banks into 6 giants,
public ownership of companies etc are all unique ideas. And there are many more. Sure you can find
fault, or you can praise. My suggestion – do neither. Rather, spend the energy thus
saved in quiet contemplation of what can be a way forward? It is through such contemplation
that thinkers emerge, and a few years or decades down the line, real positive
planned change happens.
IN
CONCLUSION…
I rate
this book 3 stars – the rating is justified, as the book makes one fundamental
error in its approach. While its analysis is good, excellent even in most parts
– it assumes willingness of the people. However, the fact is the all the ills
of our nation, covered threadbare not just in this book, but in many others as
well – have the people as willing participants, be it corruption, or be it caste
realities or be it religion based politics. And the book completely ignores, or
chooses to pass over, this reality. There is nothing in the book that even
attempts to figure how can we change public opinion, views and attitudes.
Second error- small one – the entire first chapter can be deleted; it is not
relevant to what we are discussing, as also slightly incomplete in its analysis
of Nehruji & partition, but that is another story, not relevant here.
Interested readers can look up the concerned books on my blog on this topic…
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